Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? This is, I think, finally, the only real question. You may point out—correctly—that it isn't a real question. Because we don't have the choice...Who can control how much they love? If you can control it, then it isn't love.
-- Paul (chapter 1)

Importance: The novel opens with these statements about the nature of love. These statements establish the ideas that love is often intertwined with both fulfillment and suffering and that one cannot control whom or how much one loves. The novel pays consistent thematic focus to these ideas throughout.

I seemed to have landed on exactly the relationship of which my parents would most disapprove.
-- Paul (chapter 1)

Importance: This statement emphasizes the taboo nature of Paul and Susan's relationship. Paul and Susan cannot resist their love for one another, despite the fact that Susan is...